Pleass: First half of 2017 challenging for company

PLEASS Global Ltd (PBP) released its unaudited accounts for the six month period ended June 30, 2017 yesterday in a market announcement made through the South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPSE).

Company chairperson Warwick Pleass said the company had found the first-half of 2017 to be challenging in regards to revenue which in turn had reflected on lower profits.

"I am however relatively pleased with our performance in this difficult economic period given the conditions which have influenced our performance.

"For example the 900 per cent increase in the water extraction tax and late completion of our new factory has made business more difficult.

"I remain confident in improvements in the second-half," he said.

Mr Pleass made the comment after the company's net profit after tax (NPAT) of $458,040 had declined when compared to the same period last year where the NPAT was $536,188.

The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also declined from $850,729 in 2016 to $827,519 for the first six months of 2017 and the earnings per share dropped from $0.09 to $0.07.

And as noted by the chairman the total operating revenue had dropped from $5.51 million (2016) to $5.32m in the first six months of 2017.